Dear Entrant, Your story has been judged and is a Silver Honorable Mention for the 1st quarter. (entry between 1 October through 31 December 2016)Congratulations!!!If you would like a certificate, please respond to this e-mail with:1) the name of your story2) your name as you would like it to appear on the certificate3) and the address that you would like me to send it to.4) If your legal name is different please let me know that too so your postman does not reject it because they don't know who that (your penname) is!5) THIS ITEM IS A CHANGE:I WILL NOT LIST YOU ON THE BLOG UNLESS YOU TELL ME YOU WANT TO BE ON THE LIST.Even though you have never had to wait for results in order to submit for the next quarter, this hopefullygives you incentive to submit for Quarter 3, which is happening now, the deadline being 30 June. The more often you enter, the better chance you have of winning and contest judges always tell contestants to write as much as possible.I do urge you to join our forum if you have not already, or subscribe to our judge, David Farland's newsletter. Lots of great tips at both locations to help you.I do hope you are already working on that next story and do let me know that you did get this e-mail.

Best regards,Joni Labaqui

Did your email not have that first line "Your story has been judged and is..."?

Guys this was my first submission. The wait feels brutal. Lol. But do people start posting when results are announced? I keep checking my email and scouring through the spam--just in case . Probably need to wait three or four or seven more weeks before getting antsy...

thegirlintheglasses wrote:Guys this was my first submission. The wait feels brutal. Lol. But do people start posting when results are announced? I keep checking my email and scouring through the spam--just in case . Probably need to wait three or four or seven more weeks before getting antsy...

Haha. This was my second submission, and the wait's getting to me, too. Or maybe I'm just prone to distraction! I spend far too much time checking the forum and trying to figure out when the results should be in, even though I know, rationally, that it's going to be weeks away. But hopefully the wait becomes a bit easier after a few rounds of submissions--and once I have a few more stories in circulation, this particular waiting game won't seem so bad...

I think people generally post as soon as they can, once they get their results.

Given I think Joni might have sent my emailed one to him twice because of how I got confirmation from her, and the fact I tried two emails I had I might get two notifications for mine. I remember someone saying they got a rejection and, was it a HM for the same story submitted under similar circumstances.

J'nae Rae wrote:Given I think Joni might have sent my emailed one to him twice because of how I got confirmation from her, and the fact I tried two emails I had I might get two notifications for mine. I remember someone saying they got a rejection and, was it a HM for the same story submitted under similar circumstances.

Yep, that was me. I submitted by email to both of Joni's email addresses. I got an early R, then several weeks later, an HM for the same submission.

J'nae Rae wrote:Given I think Joni might have sent my emailed one to him twice because of how I got confirmation from her, and the fact I tried two emails I had I might get two notifications for mine. I remember someone saying they got a rejection and, was it a HM for the same story submitted under similar circumstances.

Yep, that was me. I submitted by email to both of Joni's email addresses. I got an early R, then several weeks later, an HM for the same submission.

All judging for this contest is anonymous, so it's important not to post information about your story. It could disqualify you. I recommend editing your post to remove the section I redacted.

If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. ~ Mark Twain2015, Q4: R2016: SF, n/a, SHM, SHM2017: SHM, n/a, ?

I'm finding it so hard to write this quarter! I've been experimenting with short short stories (usually mine are 10,000 plus words) and fantasy this quarter, which I've never tried before. Consequently, I've had two stories get ripped apart on Critters. So...yeah, not feeling great about my writing. I've been doing lots of critiques though. (Bet this makes people who got critiques from me think twice about what I said. ha ha.) Nothing like picking apart other people's work to temporarily inflate your confidence...okay, ego.

Mostly though, I'm hung up on my last submission. I poured everything I learned from the last year into that story and I actually still feel good about it so it's like I'm subconsciously waiting for Q2 results to come in to see if I've actually improved. There may be tears this time around if I get another R. *sigh* But I'll keep writing regardless. Heck, I'm not me if I'm not writing.

Maybe I should break my taboo and read over my story again before the results come out? Do a reality check.

amyhg wrote:I'm finding it so hard to write this quarter! I've been experimenting with short short stories (usually mine are 10,000 plus words) and fantasy this quarter, which I've never tried before. Consequently, I've had two stories get ripped apart on Critters. So...yeah, not feeling great about my writing. I've been doing lots of critiques though. (Bet this makes people who got critiques from me think twice about what I said. ha ha.) Nothing like picking apart other people's work to temporarily inflate your confidence...okay, ego.

Mostly though, I'm hung up on my last submission. I poured everything I learned from the last year into that story and I actually still feel good about it so it's like I'm subconsciously waiting for Q2 results to come in to see if I've actually improved. There may be tears this time around if I get another R. *sigh* But I'll keep writing regardless. Heck, I'm not me if I'm not writing.

Maybe I should break my taboo and read over my story again before the results come out? Do a reality check.

Actually you are not alone. Many here feel that second paragraph. Me too.

Experimenting is good though. Stretching oneself is training and fantasy or SF Or westerns or Mysteries most of the basics are the same. Try-fail cycles, how to do settings, etc. Well, mysteries might have a couple of different characteristics

amyhg wrote:I'm finding it so hard to write this quarter! I've been experimenting with short short stories (usually mine are 10,000 plus words) and fantasy this quarter, which I've never tried before. Consequently, I've had two stories get ripped apart on Critters. So...yeah, not feeling great about my writing. I've been doing lots of critiques though. (Bet this makes people who got critiques from me think twice about what I said. ha ha.) Nothing like picking apart other people's work to temporarily inflate your confidence...okay, ego.

Mostly though, I'm hung up on my last submission. I poured everything I learned from the last year into that story and I actually still feel good about it so it's like I'm subconsciously waiting for Q2 results to come in to see if I've actually improved. There may be tears this time around if I get another R. *sigh* But I'll keep writing regardless. Heck, I'm not me if I'm not writing.

Maybe I should break my taboo and read over my story again before the results come out? Do a reality check.

Try not to be too discouraged by rejections, or too encouraged by sales if you're in the early word count era. Remember, most if not all of what we sell is editor taste. Early on you may match up with an editor who likes your story, then miss the next ten. It's a crap shoot for a while.

Eventually, you'll have your picture on the back of a novel and that's all it'll take to sell it. :)